


Star Wars: Episode II - Twilight Of The Republic; A Dramatic Rewrite

by inthewakeofdawn



Series: Star Wars Rewrites [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon Rewrite, Fix-It, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24382966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inthewakeofdawn/pseuds/inthewakeofdawn
Summary: A dramatic summary of a rewrite of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones, retitled as Twilight Of The Republic. This is the second instalment in a project to rewrite the Star Wars Prequel Trilogies with the benefit of hindsight and align them in quality with later developments through Revenge Of The Sith and The Clone Wars.With acknowledgements and thanks to Belated Media's What If The Star Wars Prequels Were Good Series? for the initial inspiration for this project as well as the specific inspiration of the setpiece on Alderaan, I have made some radical changes of my own.This dramatic summary is the skeleton structure of a preposed rewrite of Attack Of The Clones. This hypothetical rewrite is working under the assumption that the rewritten film would still be filmed and released in 2002, directed by George Lucas, and with largely the same cast in major roles. The removal of the Gungans, Jar Jar Binks and the Neimodians is in attempt to remove harmful stereotyping of people of colour in the portrayals of those races while the character Watto would be redesigned to avoid harmful anti-semitic stereotyping.Please enjoy, Episode III will be following shortly.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Star Wars Rewrites [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745305
Kudos: 5





	Star Wars: Episode II - Twilight Of The Republic; A Dramatic Rewrite

A long time ago,  
in a galaxy far, far away…

A vast sea of stars serves as the backdrop for the main title, followed by  
a roll up, which crawls up into infinity.

EPISODE II -   
TWILIGHT OF THE REPUBLIC  
There is unrest in the Galactic Senate.  
The Separatist movement, under the leadership of  
Count Dooku, grows bolder ever day.

Threatened, the Republic Senate has commissioned  
a GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC as a show  
of might while the growing threat of war looms.  
  
Aboard a Republic transport,  
the disgraced warrior, Jango Fett,  
awaits his arrival on the prison planet, Delrian...

We pan down to the empty void of space, the camera catching up with and moving alongside a Republic prison transport as it moves through space. On the bridge, the helm remarks that they’re about ready to make the jump to hyperspace. The Captain comms down to the brig, asking for an update on their cargo before they make the jump.

In a holding cell, we see Jango Fett in prison garments and cuffed. The guard checks through the rayshielded entrance at his state, radioing back up to the bridge that the prisoner is ready for transport. Just then the lights flicker and dim. The emergency lighting turns everything a shade of red as the rayshield fails.

On the bridge, the crew are panicking before someone reports that they’ve been hit by an ion cannon. The captain asks: but from where? In the brig, Jango smirks as he takes out the guard before him. He uses the guard’s code cylinders to unlock his cuffs and steals his blaster before stalking into the red light.

Back on the bridge, there’s a report that they’re caught in a tractor beam and again the Captain asks what ship could have snuck up on them like that. Jango races through the corridors of the ship, avoiding Republic guards, before making it to the airlock being breached. He waits for the door to be sliced open before Maul steps through. Behind Maul, a squadron of Battle Droids swarm into the ship. In the distance, as Jango and Maul exit the Republic ship, we hear blaster fire.

Maul leads Jango to the bridge of the ship, explaining that he is aboard the Invisible Hand, the flagship of the Separatist’s new droid army, commissioned from the Techno-Union after they joined their cause. And he introduces the droid army’s leader, General Grievous, who presents Jango with a hologram of Darth Sidious telling him that he has a job for him to do.

A brilliant, chromium luxury cruiser exits hyperspace over Coruscant with two Republic fighters accompanying it. The ships gracefully glide down through the cloudy atmosphere between the impossible skyscrapers of the city-planet, before touching down on a landing pad.

The cruiser promptly explodes. A massive explosion tears the ship from the inside and from one of the accompanying fighters climbs Padmé, who rushes to the side of her dying decoy. As her decoy breathes her last breath, we cut to the assembly of the Republic Senate.

Before the Senate, Padmé testifies as to her experience and injuries caused by yet another attempt on her life. She notes a clear motive to silence her and others who are attempting to speak out against the creation of an army for the Republic. She calls for a motion to halt the deployment of the army in order to investigate these attempts, placing the Senate in turmoil. The Senate is adjourned for the time being.

In Palpatine’s office, the Chancellor discusses their options with the Jedi Council. While Padmé is adamant that the creation of an army can only lead to full scale war, something Yoda agrees with, Mace cautions that the Jedi Knights are too few in number to protect the Republic alone. If this conflict grows, they will be quickly overwhelmed. They are, after all, keepers of the peace. Not soldiers.

Padmé, meanwhile, wants to know who is behind the attempt on her life. She isn’t the first senator vocal against the formation of the army to be targeted and she wants to know who wants this war to happen so badly. Mace muses that the Sith Lord they encountered on Naboo’s body was never found, that there could be far darker forces at play than they realise.

Palpatine quickly switches topic, informing them that the Royal House of Alderaan, a neutral party in the conflict between the Republic and the Separatists, has proposed a neutral meeting between the two sides. It will be an opportunity to meet and debate Count Dooku on his raised issues in a peaceful setting. Something that should hopefully defuse the tensions between the two sides.

Padmé agrees to attend, but the Chancellor insists she travel with a Jedi bodyguard. He simply cannot bear the thought of her travelling alone and unprotected, not after the attempt on her life earlier that day. She’s reluctant, but relents when Yoda suggests they assign her Anakin Skywalker, who has recently returned from the Outer Rim, while Obi-Wan will investigate the attempts on her life.

Here, we cut to the two Jedi approaching Padmé apartment, but Anakin hesistates before they enter. He’s nervous, he hasn’t seen Padmé in four years and everything’s changed so much and he doesn’t know— he starts to panic. Obi-Wan calms him, reminded him to plant himself in the moment, to trust in his training.

They enter and reunite with Padmé, who is overjoyed to see them after such tumultuous times. They have a brief catchup, Anakin regaling her with tales of his bravery as he faced the Jedi Trials. He boasts that no other Jedi has progressed to the rank to Knight as quickly as he has, something that Obi-Wan has to remind him not to take too much pride in.

The conversation turns dark as Obi-Wan asks Padmé is she knows who could have been behind the attempts on her life, to which Padmé replies that surely only Count Dooku can be orchestrating this. He wants to escalate the conflict, he wants to spark a war. Anakin is adamant that he (not they, he) will not let that happen.

That night, Anakin stands vigil as Padmé sleeps. He and Obi-Wan converse and it’s terse; Obi-Wan cautions Anakin in the folly of pride. It has lead many a Jedi astray and they can’t afford to lose him, not now. Anakin protests, saying that it’s right for him to be proud of how far he’s come. However, they’re cut off by a sense of unease coming from Padmé's room.

They enter and see a droid floating outside the window, clearly placing explosives on the window. Reactively, Anakin blasts open the window with a Force Push before diving out at the listing droid, grabbing it and holding on for dear life as it flies away. Obi-Wan rushes to commandeer a speeder, flying off to catch Anakin and the droid.

We see the Assassin watching the droid with a pair of quadnocs and spots Anakin hanging from the droid. With a rifle, the Assassin fires at Anakin, missing but causing him to drop, falling into the speeder Obi-Wan was is flying underneath. The Assassin boards a speeder of their own and takes off, the Jedi giving chase. The Jedi chase the Assassin through the speedways of the city, diving ever lower towards the Lower Levels.

They catch up to the Assassin as they enter a divebar in the lower levels. Here, we see a distrust the locals have for the Jedi. The bartender is brisk with Obi-Wan, telling him he doesn’t want any Jedi business. He points them to the back where the Assassin snuck past. While they search for the Assassin, we see them in the back alley meeting their contact: Jango Fett. The Mandalorian is displeased with the lack of results and isn’t interested in excuses. He shoots her with a poison dart from his gauntlet, leaving her for dead.

The Jedi follow the sound of the blaster fire, finding the Assassin’s body. On the body, Obi-Wan finds the dart, noticing peculiar inscriptions. Anakin asks what it could be, but Obi-Wan shakes his head.

We cut to a Republic hanger where Padmé is boarding with a number of Senators. Anakin is speaking with Obi-Wan and Owen. While Anakin protects Padmé and the other Senators during the talks with the Separatists, Obi-Wan wants to investigate the strange ore found on the body and Owen has agreed to ferry him as he needs. 

Owen pulls Anakin aside for a private moment. It’s the first time they’ve really talked since Naboo, and Owen’s eyes shine with pride as he looks at the Jedi Anakin has become. But he cautions him not to get too ahead of himself, to listen to Obi-Wan and take care of himself and Padmé. Anakin assures him that he will and they embrace.

They all wish each other luck, with a trepidatious feeling that this will be a turning point and nothing will be the same hence.

Anakin and Padmé arrive on Alderaan, greeted by a procession lead by the king, Bail Organa. Padmé and Bail are old friends and have a touching reunion, leaving Anakin slightly dejected to the side. It’s here that Bail informs them that Count Dooku will be indeed arriving to attend the peace talks and that he expects civility from the both of them. This is a place of neutrality, not to be sullied by the squabbling.

Back on Coruscant, Obi-Wan visits an old friend and contact, Dexter Jettster, at his diner. The two go way back and are friendly, but their conversation turns serious when Obi-Wan reveals the dart. There’s a hush comes over Dexter, a reverance. He says this is Mandalorian, he hasn’t seen something like this up close in years. Obi-Wan thanks him for his help and leaves.

Mandalore and the Republic, especially the Jedi Order, have a long and storied history. Countless conflicts have occurred between the two and today, Mandalore stands as one of the few planets where the Jedi dare not interfere.

The Krayt exits hyperspace about the planet Mandalore. In the cockpit, Owen asks Obi-Wan about the history between the Jedi and the Mandalorians, but Obi-Wan tells him all he knows are the stories: the history is long and nasty and full of distrust. But there is one person down there that he knows he can trust. 

Duchess Satine of Mandalore has been attempting, some say in vain, to move her people out of the shadow of their brutal warrior culture for years now, a dream that has put many a target on her back. When a civil war lead to attempts on her life, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were assigned as her bodyguards.

If there’s one person on Mandalore they can trust, it’s her.

They land and are greeted by the Duchess, who embraces Obi-Wan and leads them inside. Here, we learn about Mandalore’s place in the galaxy; how they refuse to co-operate with the meddlesome hands of the Republic while turning their noses at the self-centered cause of the Separatists. They seek neutrality and self-rule. Mandalore for Mandalorians.

That night, on Alderaan, the delegates treated a lavish banquet. Padmé settles in perfectly, catching up with old friends and being introduced to those on the other side of the aisle, having light discussions about their differences. Surrounded by Senators and aides and bothered constantly by Padmé’s protocol droid, C-3PO, Anakin feels out of place. He tries to join the conversation, but keeps getting roadblocked. The Senators, though reverent of the the Jedi, come from an entirely different background and Anakin can’t keep up with their philosophising.

The conversation around him begins to heat up as he grows increasingly irritated until he snaps at C-3PO. The outburst silences the room and Anakin excuses himself. Padmé follows and catches him before he leaves the room, asking him what’s wrong. He says it’s nothing, just that he’s used to there being less talking and more action. Padmé remarks that politics is action, that the talking always accomplishes something, for better or worse. That’s the part that scares him, though, the worse.

He excuses himself, wanting some air. Outside, Anakin seethes, chastising himself for his emotional outburst when he’s joined by Bail, who soothes him. Politics isn’t everyone’s forte, it’s reasonable to be frustrated when it feels like no progress is being made, but this is a big step.

In the Satine’s chambers, Obi-Wan tells Satine of the poison dart, who tells him it’s basically a relic. It was used by an old clan of warriors who have recently resurfaced thanks to a prominent member: the Fetts. Obi-Wan protests that Jango Fett is in prison, so who could be the one doing this?

The next day, the talks begin. Anakin stalks the perimeter, guarded by Alderaanian Royal Guard, while Padmé joins the Senators and Royalty in the Grand Chamber of the Palace.

The debate rages, with the Separatists flinging insults to the bougie Republic Senators and their Jedi bodyguards, but Padmé counters that Anakin’s presence is necessitated by the Count’s attempts on her life.

Outside, Anakin watches a mysterious, but recognisable to us (as Maul’s Sith Infiltrator), ship land in the hanger. He races towards it.

Dooku scoffs, saying that Padmé’s not the only person to be targeted with death threats. That he knows the Jedi have been targeting major Separatist voices in order to silence them. Padmé counters: that’s preposterous, the Jedi are peacekeepers, not warriors. Dooku produces the carbon scored lightsaber of a Jedi he claims to have killed in self-defence. The ominous feeling that a third party is involved begins to heighten.

In the hanger, the control tower broadcasts to the unannounced ship, ordering them to identify themselves. After a beat, the ship fires on the control tower.

Inside, the senators pause at the sound of laser fire. Padmé tries to get her bearings in the chaos, and manages to catch sight of Dooku as he slips into the crowd and disappears.

Darth Maul and a legion of Battle Droids exit the ship. The Battle Droids quickly overwhelm Anakin and the Royal Guard, pushing further into the palace, as Maul makes his way to the chamber where the senators remain paralysed. Maul enters and gloats at Bail, laughing at the way he thought he could be neutral in such a time.

It’s here that Anakin appears and confronts Maul. Their battle is ugly and mean and Anakin is humiliated at every turn by Maul, who simply plays with him, goading him about the fact that the Jedi have made him weak. That he’ll fall just as quick as Qui-Gon did. He makes quick work of him and as he stands over the beaten Jedi, he readies himself for the killing blow.

Before Maul can take it, however, the Grand Army Of The Republic arrives. Their battleships hang in the air overhead while landing craft deposit clone troopers to fight back against the droids. Maul, furious, escapes in the confusion.

Meanwhile, Satine points Obi-Wan and Owen to an enclave on one of Mandalore’s moons, Concord Dawn, where the Fetts make their home. They arrive and Obi-Wan sticks out like a sore thumb, noticeably an outsider. Again, we see the irritation of those who distrust the Jedi thrown his way. Obi-Wan follows his way through the enclave, finding himself on the doorstep of the Fett household.

He’s greeted at the door by Boba, a young boy, who invites the Jedi in. This becomes a tense, very noir-ish segment as we Obi-Wan questioning Boba while he searches the house while Jango hides from the Jedi.

Jango surprises Obi-Wan, holding him at blaster point as he tells Boba to grab his stuff in order to leave. There’s a lot of tension here as Obi-Wan lets Fett manoeuvre him at least while Boba is in the room. Here, Fett gloats about the coming war, the secret machinations of the Separatists and the twilight of the Jedi. Obi-Wan asks him why he came back, but Jango only smirks.

Tension grows as Boba leaves. Jango fires, Obi-Wan deflects it. They scramble, a gross, visceral close quarters fight in Jango’s cramped chambers. Eventually, Obi-Wan Force pushes Jango out of the window, but he catches himself thanks to his jetpack and flies to the landing pad where Slave I sits.

Jango takes off, firing at the Jedi as Obi-Wan races to the Krayt where Owen is already prepping for takeoff. Obi-Wan mangages to throw a tracking device on the hull of Slave I before it flies off. Obi-Wan boards the Krayt and they take off in pursuit.

The Krayt arrives a short time after the Fetts before the great rings of Geonosis. What follows is the same tense dogfight through the rings as the theatical film, but with a bulky freighter instead of a Jedi starfighter and the bonus of Obi-Wan/Owen banter.

Fett slips through the net, leaving the Krayt in his wake before landing on the planet. The Krayt lands atop a canyon overlooking a massive foundry complex. Obi-Wan conveys a message to the Council and the Chancellor, telling them they’ve tracked down Jango Fett to Geonesis.

He enters and sneaks his way through corridors and service hatchways before overhearing the arrival of Count Dooku, who is met by his advisors, the council of the Separtists and General Grievous. Obi Wan follows them as Dooku tells the assembled council that thanks to their actions on Alderaan, war is now inevitable. Their end goal is in sight. And that the Republic will fall.

Obi-Wan heads back to the Krayt to relay a message to Coruscant when the ship is surrounded and overwhelmed by Battle Droids.

In the aftermath of the attack on Alderaan, Padmé nurses Anakin back to health on his sickbed. He’s hurt, but not too bad, and the bacta helps quickly, but what’s more damaged is his psyche. He’s short with her, frustrated by his performance and humiliation by Maul. He says he feels like he’s not the Jedi he should be. He feels betrayed by his own training, by the Order and, most importantly, Obi-Wan.

Padmé tries to comfort him, telling him he’s lashing out and that he doesn’t really mean it, but he lashes out at her as well. She leaves.

Outside, Padmé confers with Palpatine about Anakin. Palpatine is worried about the boy and Padmé says that the stress is going to overwhelm him. Palpatine laments that they’ve just recieved comminque from Obi-Wan on Geonosis claiming that Dooku is there with the Separatist council. Padmé says that this is their chance, they can go to Geonosis and capture Dooku and his council and bring a swift end to this conflict before it cane begins.

But, Palpatine counters, there’s no time to convince the Senate. Dooku will again slip through the cracks before they can reach him. He excuses himself and Padmé returns to Anakin’s room, telling him to get dressed. When he asks why, she tells him they’re going to rescue Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan is captured. Dooku has a long conversation with him while he’s held captive, lamenting the state of the Republic and what could have been. They could have done without all this bloodshed and fighting.

Obi-Wan asks what all this is about, why did he abandon the Order, why did he abandon the Republic. Dooku counters, he’s not abandoning the Republic, he’s trying to save it. He claims that a Dark Lord of the Sith is manipulating the Jedi Council and the Senate from within. You’ve seen his power, he says, his apprentice on Naboo. There are dark forces moving in the galaxy. You must join me, he says, before it is too late. Obi-Wan refuses, Dooku leaves.

On Geonosis, Amidala’s ship touches down by the droid factories, dipping into the canyons surrounding it to remain unseen. Anakin and Padmé sneak into the factory from the underside, coming up through maintenance tunnels. They come across Owen’s cell, who’s clearly been tortured, and release him. He says that Obi-Wan was taken; they have to hurry.

The three of them race through the droid factories, but are caught by the droids and chased across conveyor belts until Jango Fett corners them, shooting Anakin in the shoulder to ground him. Anakin is having a bad day.

Cut to Anakin and Padmé in a hover chariot before they are to be taken out to the arena where they share a tender moment. Anakin is seething, shivering. She asks if he’s afraid and he says I’m not afraid to die. But I am afraid to die before telling you I love you.

Padmé doesn’t have time to respond before they’re pulled out into the arena, joining Obi-Wan and Owen. Each of them are beat up in their own way, trying hard to keep it together. Anakin is noticeably shaken. Then the creatures are revealed.

This plays a bit more like Luke versus the Rancor; there’s no chains or pillars, but that means that our heroes have to be quick-witted and rely on each other to eventually turn the beasts’s attentions on each other before dispatching them.

Exasperated, Dooku brings out a platoon of droids that keep them pinned before laser fire from overhead blasts a huge crater where a squadron of droids used to be.

The gunships of the Republic Army land as the Cruisers coast in the lower atmosphere. The Clone drop ships land, disembarking platoons of the clone troopers that fire against the droid army. We see Dooku flee his private box as Jango joins the fighting.

In the arena, our heroes are in the fray, fighting alongside the clones. They make a clearing as a drop ship lands and the Jedi Council disembarks. There’s a moment of camaraderie as we see the Jedi at their peak easily disabling the droid offensive. We see the power that the Jedi can bring to turning the tide of battle. It even seems to ease Anakin’s troubles as he slips right into his roguish self.

In the midst of all this, Owen faces down Jango Fett. Fett puts up a fight, but Owen gets a good shot in to disable his jetpack before a hand to hand tussle puts Owen on the ground and Fett in power. A distraction, however, breaks Jango’s focus as Owen grabs his blaster and fires, seemingly killing Jango.

Dooku enters the tactical command centre on the Separatist front, furious at a hologram of Maul. He says, this wasn’t the plan. The plan was to turn Kenobi, what are the Republic and the Jedi doing here? This is too soon, this is madness. Maul doesn’t want to hear it; just bring the plans back to the Coruscant. Things are in motion as they have always been. Dooku brings up a hologram showing a rough diagram of what will one day become the Death Star before removing the datachip.

Here, we see a war of the stars on a scale we never have before as the Jedi make their way to the frontlines. An entire battlefield of clone walker tanks, droid artillery and infranty march as fighters and gunships dogfight in the air while capital ships loom overhead. The droid army puts up a decent fight as we see Separatist ships in a hasty retreat; including Dooku’s speeder, which makes its way across the sands to a hanger bay.

Anakin spots Dooku’s speeder from the gunship he and Obi-Wan and Padmé are riding in. They follow amidst the chaos of the dogfighting, taking a stray hit that injures Padmé. Anakin rushes to her aid, but she’ll live. He fawns over her, though, causing Obi-Wan to chastise him for losing his focus which causes Anakin to seethe.

They land at the hanger bay shortly after Dooku and rush in after him, leaving Padmé in the gunship. Dooku seems to have let the facade of class drop, there’s an unkempt anger seething under the surface. That we know all too well because we see it in Anakin.

Obi-Wan tries to keep Anakin calm, telling him they’ll take Dooku together, but Anakin snaps and rushes Dooku, only to be played with. Dooku’s form is that of a duelist, with deft parries easily blocking Anakin’s wide, brutal swings and before we can react, Dooku has cut Anakin across the leg and downed him. 

He gloats. You see, Kenobi, the boy isn’t what he’s cracked up to be. He’s weak, like all Jedi are. Join me and know true power.

Never. Obi-Wan matches Dooku blow for blow, but again he’s toyed with. Dooku makes it look easy. It’s a fight that reminds us of how much Vader toyed with Luke on Bespin, but with something more sinister behind because of Dooku’s attitude.

In time, Anakin recovers and joins the fight, the three facing off in the darkened, moody hanger lit only by the light filtering in from the hanger door. Here, we see Obi-Wan and Anakin finally working as a pair, truly in sync with one another. However, Dooku sees that as well and outmanoeuvres them to injure Obi-Wan with a slash across the chest before pushing him into a wall, leaving him prone on the ground.

This leaves only Anakin to fight and, again, he’s toyed with. Dooku gloats that he can sense great anger in the boy, great fear as well. Powerful tools if he can harness them to strike him down. Usual shite Sith patter. Until Dooku strikes Anakin down, lopping off his arm at the elbow.

It downs Anakin, but he’s still awake and he’s furious. Yelling in pain and rage. Dooku has something of a lament, wishing it didn’t have to come to this, but alas. There’s a war on. He boards his ship and leaves for Coruscant as Padmé races in with the clones to find the broken Anakin, sobbing over the unconscious body of his master.

We cut back to Coruscant as Maul receives Dooku’s ship in the badlands of the industrial zone. Dooku throws barbs at Maul, that he promised he would take care of the boy and the Senator. Maul retorts back, but from the shadows Sidious silences them and emerges. He says that everything is proceeding as the Force wills it. Foresight can only tell us what path to walk, not the journey it will take us on.

In a Republic Capital ship, Anakin is being fitted with a prosthetic arm in a medbay when Owen and Padmé come to visit him. He brushes them off, he doesn’t want to talk. Padmé asks Owen if he can give them a minute. 

Padmé touches his prosthetic arm gently and he reacts to the touch like it were fire. She asks him about what he said before the arena, if it was true. He can’t meet her gaze, but he says it is. She cups his chin, brings his gaze up to hers and they kiss.

On the bridge, Owen joins Obi-Wan who speaks with the Jedi Masters of the Council. Obi-Wan asks how the Council feels about what he learned from Dooku, about the Dark Forces at play. Yoda comments that Dooku has fallen to the dark side now and that sowing mistrust is his goal. Still, Obi-Wan says, it was a close victory thanks to the clones. But Owen pipes up. Victory? You call that a victory? They barely escaped with their lives. Yoda agrees. The shroud of the dark side has fallen.

Begun, the Clone Wars has.

And they look out to the fleet of Republic ships as they rise to leave Geonosis.

CREDITS

THE END


End file.
